WAR UPDATE. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega says there are no Filipino casualties in Gaza during a press briefing at Malacañang on Tuesday (Oct. 10, 2023). At least 38 Filipinos, meanwhile, have requested repatriation, 17 of whom are children between ages 2 to 15. (Screengrab from RTVM)
MANILA – No Filipino casualties have been reported in Gaza following the deadly war between Israeli forces and the Hamas group, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday.
In a press briefing at Malacañang, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said there are at least 137 Filipinos living in the area, most of whom are children and spouses of Palestinian nationals.
“Ang ating kababayan so far ay walang casualties or wounded because ang tina-target ng Israel specifically are Hamas targets,” he said. “The Israelis themselves have said that they have been warning civilians in Gaza before they strike particular buildings."
At least 38 Filipinos, meanwhile, have requested repatriation from Gaza. Of the number, 17 are children between ages 2 to 15.
De Vega said the Philippine Embassy in Jordan, which has jurisdiction over Filipinos in Gaza, is working to process the request.
He noted that extracting the Filipinos from Gaza is “complicated” since there is no international airport in the area and leaving by the sea is not possible due to blockades and absence of a port.
He said the Philippines is considering all possible options to evacuate those who requested assistance.
“There’s always diplomatic initiatives, there are the exit points through Israel or through Egypt, which are heavily guarded by both Egypt or Israel,” he said.
“There are measures now being undertaken so that we could hopefully bring them home as soon as possible,” he added.
The embassy has recommended raising the alert level 3 in Gaza, which means voluntary evacuation is advised.
Crisis management task force
Kabayan Party-list Rep. Ron P. Salo on Tuesday filed House Resolution (HR) No. 1369 urging the government to immediately create a crisis management task force to assist affected Filipinos.
Salo, chairperson of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, said the task force be jointly led by the DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
He said the task force will also be mandated to closely monitor the evolving situation and to fully prepare contingency plans, including possible repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
To ensure a decisive, holistic and coordinated response of the Philippine government, the members of the task force will include pertinent agencies, including the Department of National Defense, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency, and dedicated diplomatic representatives led by the Philippine Ambassador to Israel and the Labor Attaché in Israel.
He said the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs will also conduct a hearing on Wednesday to assess the current situation in Israel and Gaza.
“The Philippine government is fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our Kabayans abroad. We shall provide assistance, guidance, and support to the key agencies as we navigate this challenging period,” Salo said.
The Presidential Communications Office earlier said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has instructed the government to closely coordinate with the embassy in Tel Aviv and the Migrant Workers Office in Israel to help Filipinos affected by the ongoing conflict.
The DMW opened a hotline, Viber and WhatsApp numbers that will accept calls and queries from OFWs and the Filipino community in need of government assistance.
PH workers deployment on hold
Meanwhile, the DMW said deployment of Filipino workers to Israel is now on hold amid the escalated fighting between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian Hamas group.
During the same Palace briefing on Tuesday, DMW Officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac clarified there is no deployment ban in effect, and that the suspension is mainly because the international airport in Israel is closed.
“Right now, deployment is on hold mainly because we know that the Ben Gurion International Airport is closed although there might have been developments in the last few hours on that,” Cacdac said.
He said there is a government-to-government (G2G) hiring arrangement in partnership with the Israeli labor and immigration authorities especially with respect to hotel workers.
The DMW, he said, is in close coordination with their agency counterpart, the Israeli PIBA (Population, Immigration and Border Authority), and that at a proper time, deployment will resume especially for the G2G hotel workers for Israel.
Cacdac said the deployment ban framework is anchored on the alert level system set by the Department of Foreign Affairs, in accordance with the law.
However, since the hiring of hotel workers is done through a G2G arrangement, Cacdac said that both governments must agree to proceed with the deployment, even without a ban.
“For hotel workers we are deploying around, on average, around let’s say 1,800 in a year because this is just the second year of implementation of the G2G arrangement. For the caregivers, this is on hold over the last year, but for hotel workers that’s ongoing – so that’s around 1,800 so that’s approximately maybe a 100 or so per month,” he said.
“So, again the situation is manageable kasi nga nakatimbre tayo doon sa counterpart natin sa Israel (because we are in coordination with our counterpart in Israel). So, even before we say yes here they have to say yes over there and vice versa. Sabay din magdi-decide bago matuloy iyong deployment (We will both decide before deployment proceeds),” he added.
OWWA helps OFW’s wife
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is in a 24-hour, non-stop work mode in helping overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Israel and their families, and in full coordination with the DFA, the DMW, and the Israeli Defense Forces in Israel.
OWWA chief Arnell Ignacio said the wife of OFW Gallenor Leano Pacheco, one of those still missing, is currently with the agency undergoing psychosocial intervention.
“The wife of Gallenor Leano Pacheco (said) nakita daw niya yung kanyang mister sa video pero as I’ve said we would like to be 100 percent sure so what we did is kinuha natin yung kanyang wife and currently nandito siya sa OWWA ngayon para makalma natin kasama yung anak niya (she said she saw her husband in the video, but as I’ve said, we want to be 100 percent sure, so what we did was we took her here at OWWA to pacify her, together with her child),” Ignacio said.
To date, OWWA has put up a command center to assist families of OFWs who want to know the situation in Israel.
Around 30,500 Filipinos are working and living in Israel, but DFA data shows that 95 percent of them are not in the southern areas near Gaza, and that most of them are in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa. (With a report from Zaldy De Layola/PNA)
